Salami Saheed Oladimeji, the President of Thinkrich Community
The difference between the haves and the have nots is in the thinking, says Salami Saheed Oladimeji, the President of Thinkrich Community, a new tribe building-up in Abeokuta and now the talk of the capital city of Ogun State.
The president of Thinkrich Community posited that nobody can remain poor if he thinks rich, insisting that: “You cannot think rich and remain poor, it is thinking that makes the difference”.
To prove his wild claim, Oladimeji is now growing a tribe of people who professed to be in need and he is not only trying to change them to think his way and become rich but also want to improve their lives through food succour.
He is using a two pronged tool, the Thinkrich Cooperative and Multipurpose Society and the Thinkhelp Foundation, two nongovernmental organizations to attain this goal.
According to Oladimeji, the Thinkrich Cooperative and Multipurpose Society is the tool he is using to up the thinking of his members who are now joining the organization in droves and the cooperative is attractive to the masses because of what it does which is now causing not a little buzz in Abeokuta. It gives free food to its members monthly.
Salami(third from left) in a group photograph with Peace Ambassadors who visited him in his office.
Oladimeji has discovered that food is not only the shortest avenue to the heart of man, it is a de rigueur gift to decent living.
Stomach infrastructure, as former Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State called it, is numero uno in the priority list of man and that is what Oladimeji is using as the bait to attract members in their thousands to his Thinkrich Community.
To be a member of the community, a form is given out free of charge but will be returned with two passport photographs and the sum of Two thousands Naira (N2000), the amount Oladimeji described as processing fee. At the issuance of the membership card of Thinkrich Community, a member instantly becomes qualified for monthly food support. The president of Thinkrich community said the ultimate objective is to create and add value to the lives of his members.
According to the president, the community does not discriminate between tribes, sexes, nationalities or use any sentiment to differentiate its members as Thinkrich Community includes entrepreneurs, civil servants, orphans, the less privileged among others.
“Our goal is to create value for mankind and not to discriminate”, Oladimeji said.
Above and below: Packed raw foodstuffs awaiting distribution to members of Thinkrich Community
THE STATEPOST visited the office of the community at Ijeun Lodge, 1, Iyana Mortuary, Abeokuta, where we met Oladimeji popularly addressed as “President”, a graduate of political science at Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye who by his bustling about could be described as the majordomo of the office which is now daily besieged by its growing members, enquirers and other visitors.
The day of our visit also coincided with the day a batch of the community, totalling 500 was collecting it’s food support for the month of November, so a busy day it was.
But after a long wait, Oladimeji eventually found time to attend to us. In an interview we had with him he told us that the idea of sustaining people to think rich through food succour has been in his mind for sometime now but it began in earnest three months ago when the office of the community was opened.
He explained that he got the idea from a multi level marketing scheme he once joined but which he eventually left as it failed to meet his expectations. He therefore started nurturing the plan for a similar organization which would meet the needs of majority of the people. This, he said he has achieved with the Thinkrich Community.
The Thinkrich Cooperative and Multipurpose Society of the community he uses as the tool to get to the people and to distribute food supports to them. The Thinkhelp International Foundation, the second finger of his two pronged tool is similarly working round the clock to source food supports from the wealthy and affluent members of the society to be distributed to members of Thinkrich Community.
In Oladimeji’s words: “We meet the rich to source for help for our members. We serve as intermediary between the haves and have nots.”
On Thinkhelp, the president of Thinkrich again believed that the rich are also helping themselves as he put it: “The Thinkhelp philosophy is that if you think of who to help, help will come to you too”.
He also revealed that the Thinkrich Cooperative and Multipurpose Society will not only give food supports for its community but will give them material and health supports as well. He noted that in a short while, the community would begin a scheme to loan money to members which they would repay without interests.
Oladimeji said his vision was to have centres in all states and local governments in the country as “I want to reach all the people”.
The community was launched in Ibadan, Oyo State on the 5th of this month and it already has its branches also at Shagamu and Odeda.
Above and below: Members of Thinkrich Community being attended to at the office.
Asked if the community has a hidden political hue to it’s objectives, the president said though the organization is presently unaffiliated to any political party, group or individual but he is not aversed to allowing individual politicians to talk to his members since they have political rights.
“Our primary objective is to help ourselves and the secondary objective which also supports the primary one is to use the might of number to empower our people if necessary. If we see the right individual to help us achieve more and live more meaningfully, of course we will not object to negotiations”, Oladimeji concluded.
